People need to understand clearly what is happening here. Andy Burnham has never been a fan of Britain’s democratic decision to leave the European Union in 2016. The referendum was one of the biggest democratic processes in modern Britain, with strong views on both sides. The Prime Minister now claims officials told him that Russia interfered in the referendum. Burnham used his first speech at the UN to announce the creation of the National Centre for Information Defence. He said it would tackle Russian misinformation that sows division, interferes in our democracy, spreads false narratives about Britain and pushes people towards the “far right”. But today, a Foreign Office minister slapped down that claim, saying Russia was not successful in influencing the Brexit referendum. It is clear that this new centre will almost certainly be used to clamp down on those who do not subscribe to Burnham’s vision of Britain or the progressive orthodoxies he promotes. It looks as if Andy Burnham is now spreading misinformation about misinformation — the very thing he claims threatens democracy.